Bobby, not Akshay, leads ‘Thank You’ promotions

Credit it to the success of “Yamla Pagla Deewana”, actor Bobby Deol is the face of filmmaker Anees Bazmee’s upcoming film “Thank You” and not old favourite Akshay Kumar.

After giving two huge hits — “Singh is King” (2008) and “Welcome” (2007) — it was thought quite certain that Akshay would be the face of Bazmee’s film. But the director brought changes in the film’s promotion strategy after seeing the soaring success of “Yamla…”.

“There were alterations made in the trailer of the film as well. Initially, the promos featured Akshay Kumar prominently. But after seeing Bobby’s performance and his audience connect in ‘Yamla Pagla Deewana’, the filmmakers reworked on the promo to feature Bobby,” a source said.

Bazmee confirmed the change, and said: “It is a marketing strategy to promote Bobby as much as we promote Akshay. Bobby is generally shy, but we are pushing him to go all out for ‘Thank You’.”

Bobby has always been media shy and reclusive in promoting his films. But with “Yamla…”, he has realised the importance of reaching out to the audience, so he is keen and geared up to actively promote “Thank You”, says the source.

Apart from Bobby and Akshay, the romantic comedy also features actors Sonam Kapoor, Celina Jaitley and Irrfan Khan in lead roles.

“Thank You” is set to hit theatres April 8.